In his "Producer's Note" in the beautiful book that is part of the box, Lemieux, who attended the first 10 shows on the tour, states, "To my ears this was the last tour that was consistently great, where every show is excellent, not a dud in the bunch." And Grateful Dead historian Dennis McNally's comprehensive and informative insider's essay in the box is titled "The Last Great Dead Tour." These guys know what they're talking about.

Basically, the band had been on an upward trajectory since Garcia's return to the road in the spring of '87, following his near-death the previous summer. Of course, 1987 was a trip in itself, what with the unexpected mega-success of In the Dark and their first hit single, "Touch of Grey." But the momentum just kept building with each subsequent tour, as Garcia got back up to full speed (and then some!) and the group as a whole was as unified as they had ever been since Brent joined the band in the spring of '79. New original tunes were popping up and the old favorites were imbued with a freshness and spirit that was so uplifting and inspiring. The band was having fun again, and it was downright infectious.

The group's fall 1989 shows-as documented two years ago on the Formerly the Warlocks box (two shows from Hampton, VA, 10/8-9/89) and on the 2001 release Nightfall of Diamonds (a single night in NJ, 10/16/89)- kicked the energy level up another couple of notches, as the band reintroduced such loved classics as "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!," "Attics of My Life," "Death Don't Have No Mercy" and "Dark Star."

And when the band hit the road in mid-March 1990, they had a bunch of other cool tunes to lay on their unsuspecting crowds, including the return of "Loose Lucy" (last played in 1974; it's not on this box), Brent's "Easy to Love You" (missing since 1980), a rollicking cover of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," The Band's "The Weight" (with all four singers taking a verse each) and a lyrically retooled "Black-Throated Wind" (absent since 1974), which elicited huge cheers every time it was played.

Over these six shows, most of the cornerstones of the Dead's repertoire from the era appear-splendid versions of "Scarlet Begonias" > "Fire on the Mountain," "China Cat Sunflower" > "I Know You Rider," "Playing in the Band," "Uncle John's Band," "Eyes of the World," "Estimated Prophet," "Truckin'," "Sugar Magnolia," "The Other One," "Terrapin," "Stella Blue," "Feel Like a Stranger," "Bird Song," "Let It Grow," "China Doll," "Box of Rain," "Morning Dew"; you name it. From the fall '89 breakouts come "Help-Slip-Frank," "Attics of My Life" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Among the still newish tunes are "Picasso Moon," "Blow Away," "Foolish Heart," "Just a Little Light," "Victim or the Crime," "Standing on the Moon," "We Can Run" and a couple that would get their final plays from the Grateful Dead on this tour-"Built to Last" and "Believe It or Not." There are stirring renditions of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Black Muddy River," rockin' takes on "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "Iko Iko" and the only version of the full "Hey Jude" the band attempted in the modern era. And the "Rhythm Devils" and "Space" jams at the heart of each second set are as noisy-beautiful-scary-funny-intense-mysterious-wild as you'd expect/hope for.

Of course, we understand that some of you may have other favorite shows from this tour you wish were included on this box. Really, you can't go wrong with any of them. But at 18 discs, this is still the second largest Grateful Dead box (after Europe '72: The Complete Recordings) that's been released, and the non-inclusion of any other shows from the tour definitely does not preclude their future release! But this seemed like a more manageable way to go, while still giving a sense of the tour's amazing depth and breadth.

Besides the discs themselves, Grateful Dead: Spring 1990 has much to offer, including: a gorgeous 60-page hardcover book containing copious color photos by Jim Anderson and Michael Laurentus, unique artwork by Brooklyn-based fine artist Wes Lang, fascinating business letters and communications related to the tour, a detailed historical essay by Dennis McNally, a Producer's Note by David Lemieux and individual show descriptions by Blair Jackson; a reproduction of the Dead's 1990 tour program (printed and sold later in '90, for the fall and Europe '90 tours); tickets and backstage passes of all six shows; a band publicity photo from 1990 by Ken Friedman; Dennis McNally's tour laminate; and reproductions of the colored 8x10 sheets GDTS sent out with hotel, food and other information for each city on the tour.

With recordings made by longtime Grateful Dead recordist and producer John Cutler, mastered by Jeffrey Norman in HDCD, you just know it's gonna sound great-and it does!

So, that's the skinny this time 'round. This box is limited to just 9,000 numbered copies - please note, this is the only time these shows will ever be officially available on CD. There will not be an All Music Edition and single shows will not be available physically. Due to ship out August 31st, we anticipate that this extraordinary set will sell-out, so order your copy today!

If you're looking for more of a bite-sized taste of the '90s, Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It, a 2-CD set featuring a handful of favorites, will be in stores on September 18th.

Disc 1
1. Feel Like A Stranger [8:12]
2. West L. A. Fadeaway [7:41]
3. Easy To Love You [6:14]
4. Beat It On Down The Line [3:34]
5. It Must Have Been The Roses [6:29]
6. The Last Time [5:40]
7. Picasso Moon [7:07]
8. Don't Ease Me In [3:30]

Comments

I finally took the bait on this one. It was a tough call, since late-era Brent is my least favorite Dead period. I actively dislike "Nightfall of Diamonds", "Without a Net", and "Crimson White, and Indigo". I got them all as soon as they were released but I've never been able to listen to more than a few minutes of each. Just not my thing. On the other hand, I do have a soft spot for Terrapin Limited. I've tallied up several hours listening to that one- love the "Tom Thumb Blues", "Easy to Love You", "Mock Turtle Jam" and "Space". Seems like there may have been something special about that spring tour. And the early 90's is probably my favorite post-hiatus Jerry era- mostly because of his work with Grisman more than anything else. So I'm kind of excited about this one now. Still maybe would have preferred a Hornsby/Vince or even just Vince-era box, but who knows?

I've pre-ordered So Glad You Made It from Amazon, along with Dozin' At The Knick. An era I need to learn more of (but one which I don't want in a boxset I'll probably end up leaving on the shelf to gather dust.)

This is an odd way to select shows, “The last night of each run, except Atlanta” where David’s words I believe, this coming on the heels of an excellent post on Blair’s Golden Road blog about listing to a run of 10-shows in a row. I have almost always listened to shows from a specific era, a 3-night run or tour, whatever I had out of the 1,500 + shows I have collected. After the listing to the majority of the E72 box set, (saving the Lyceum run for a raining day), in order, show after show, (Lots of repeats, think I ODed on Mr. Charlie), you really do start to here the subtle differences from show to show, song to song and I believe this is the way to really listen to the Dead. This was the way the music was presented to us when we were on tour and I have almost finished listening to the East coast ’83 tour, Hampton through Philly and many, many great moment would be lost with the every other show or last show of the run approach. To avoid another $400 + expense, I understand breaking us the tour, but this methodology makes no sense to me. Split it up Part 1 / Part 2 and I instantly would have bought the second half, the 2 unreleased Knick shows, 3 Nassau and 3 Atlanta shows. I was at the Atlanta run and only still have Aud’s of each night. Love the concept of releasing large amounts of shows, hopefully next time it is a run of consecutive shows.

I remember there was some explanation for the use of John Cutler's live stereo mix when Terrapin Limited was released. You can easily compare the Althea from it to the 24-track one on Without A Net. I always notice that the one on Terrapin Limited seems flat and lifeless when compared to the depth and presence of the gorgeous Without A Net version. Same performance, just different sources. Not that the quality of Terrapin Limited isn't good enough, and I don't know if that would hold true for the whole show of course, but for that one song at least, it does make a big difference.

My suspicion is that these are the stereo mixes made 'live' by John Cutler from the feed to the recording truck at the same time as he was operating the 24 track machine (not the same as the front of house mix). On the cover of Terrapin Limited it also says that it is a live stereo mix by John Cutler, just like for this release. I am not sure about Nightfall of Diamonds because I cannot find my copy! However Without a Net appears to have been mixed down later from the 24 Track tapes as it states on the cover that it was mixed at Club Front.

all speculation of course, but what else are we supposed to do while waiting

Both "Winterland" box sets used 2 tr. soundboard tapes. I was also under the impression that box sets and vault releases came from multi-track sources whereas "Dick's picks", "Road trips" and "Dave's picks" come from 2 tr. recordings.The "Winterland" boxes are obviously an exception to this rule, as are all four "View from the vault" soundtracks, all of which used 2 tr. sources. Nothing is stated on the packaging about the source tapes for "Nightfall of diamonds", "Dozin' at the Knick" and "Terrapin station" but it is known that these shows were recorded on 24 tr. Only DL knows for sure and he seems to have stated in the interview mentioned in an earlier post that the multi-tracks were used for "Nightfall of diamonds", "Dozin' at the Knick" and "Terrapin station". Whatever, I am confident that there will be nothing lacking in the sound quality of the shows in this box.

I hesitated but I'm in. $200 is not as bad as $450-Ibought 3 europe 72 shows-love them ,but $450 was more than I could spend- ironically now I want the other shows & it'll cost more for not bit in' the bullet all at once. I love the grateful dead-keep them comin'! very end of month or 1st -perfect-before I blow all my money-the thing was divine. Listener party-FANTASTIC! keep smilin'!

Dave has said on multiple occasions that the series releases, a la Dick's/Dave's Picks, Road Trips, come from the 2-track recordings and that Vault releases, like this one, come from multi-tracks. Based on previous comments from DL, therefore, I see no reason to believe that these are NOT from the 24 track recording. (Caveat: I don't know if the Winterland boxes were from multi-track sources. Those may be an exception, but my knowledge is limited on that.) There does not seem to be any attempt to intentionally mislead people on this release. It seems to me that the 2-track/multi-track release divide was made clear so frequently that it wouldn't require an explicit mention here.

I listened to the second set of 6/16/90 (vftv) last night. AWESOME set. Dozin' at the Knick has a great disc 2 (the jam out of Terrapin > Drums > Space gets repeated listenings from me, pretty rare for GD87 and later). Terrapin Limited has some good stuff, too.

I have never warmed up to vftv 1 (pittsburgh), but I like the bonus material from 7/6.

So Nightfall of Diamonds was recorded on multi-track. Is that because they were recording shows for what would become Without a Net?

Absolutely. That’s what happened with that one. Certain times and tours and runs of shows were recorded multi-track with the intention of producing an album from them, and fortunately in the case of Without a Net, the Dead happened to be playing really well those three tours. So we’ve got multi-tracks for Without a Net, Downhill From Here, Dozin’ at the Knick, Terrapin Limited, and Nightfall of Diamonds. So that pattern is pretty much what we’re still following, and that goes for a few reasons. One, we don’t have very much multi-track, and what we do have is worth mixing to make proper albums out of, and at the same time, it takes so long to mix a multi-track down to two-track it wouldn’t really be feasible. A two-track release generally takes about four weeks to do and a multi-track takes about eight weeks.

Read more: Interview from the Vault - A Conversation with David Lemieux (Part Three) http://www.musicbox-online.com/dl-vault3.html#ixzz22aEUGRMq

I have not researched this exhaustively, but as far as I can make out of what has beeh officially released from this period, only "The Warlocks" box was definitely taken from 24 tr. tapes. All other official releases from this period were taken from 2 tr. tapes or the source is indeterminate. Were the 24 tr. tapes recorded by Arista for "Without a net" and remain the property of Arista and the vault only has the 2 tr. tapes? I have no idea. If these recordings were taken from the 24 tr. tapes, I would expect that to be mentioned in the marketing blurb to talk-up this release. As there is no specific mention of which set of tapes was used, I would guess that the 2 tr. tapes were used. I hope clarification is forthcoming and that it turns out that the 24 tr. tapes were available and were used here. However, I expect that the sound quality on this release will be just fine otherwise they would not be releasing such a lavish production.

"Recorded and mixed live by John Cutler" means live-to-2-track to me, which means the multi-track tapes are gathering dust in the vault. There is some chance these mixes will sound relatively okay, but there is no way they could compare to a careful mix from multi-track, because Cutler had his hands full during the shows and this 2-track tape was an afterthought. It's probably just the house mix. I just hate that the better audio source was ignored. Production cost would have been higher, but isn't it more important that the best sound arrives at the listeners' ears?

9000 sets at $200 each is not $180,000. It's $1.8 million. Meanwhile, I too would like to know if these are indeed mastered from the 24-track tapes, or if they're taken from Cutler's 2-tracks as Terrapin Limited was in order to avoid conflict with Arista's release of Althea on Without A Net.

LTGTR - either 3/16 or 3/24
Stranger - most likely 3/22 but could be 4/2
West LA - 3/22
Easy To Love You - lely 3/22
BIODTL - 3/22
Loser - 3/24
All Over Now - 3/19 or 3/30
Jack-a-Roe - 3/19
Last Time - 3/16 or 3/22 or 4/2
Bird Song - 3/16
Blow Away - most likely 3/16 as the other version from 3/26 is already on Dozin' At The Knick

The more I think about this release, the more I feel that this is by far the best release they have put together yet. I love the E72 box, but these will be in my listening rotation far more.

My little Spring '90 story...

A friend of mine and I sent out for mail order tickets for Knickerbocker and tried to order by phone but got shut out. Our determinatiuon not-with-standing to see the Dead on this tour because Spring '89 was such a blast, we decided to order tickets over the phone for the Omni when they went on sale. We scored decent Brent/Jerry stage right side seats for the first two nights and behind the stage for the last night.

The last Dead show I attended before this run was at Alpine Valley 7/18 (yup, the unfortunately as-of-yet unreleased show screened at movie theatre, which I missed :( ... ), and it was the last time I attended a show where onsight overnight camping and vending still ran rampant.

Upon arrival for the first show, we parked in a ramp across the street from the CNN center and home of the Omni. Our first observation was that there was very little vending or obvious camping, which was sort of an expected shock. The shock I didn't expect was hearing about what transpired for the past few day at Nassau. At that point I figured there would be no real suprises, but it was April Fools. Who knows? As things would be, the first night was a great solid show all around. Everything played exceptionally well and the band was fully warmed up.

By the second night of the run, which is the one included in this set, we happened to have the great fortune of not only finding out that a freightyard lot behind the CNN Center was opened for Deadheads to camp and vend, despite the rules posted by the band, but by chance, we had even better fortune! Before the show, we pretty much hung out in the makeshift freightyard fteak village were parked near some folks who were taping shows from the tour and rocking recordings from the first night.

By this point, I had been going to Grateful Dead concerts for several years already but really only had a vague knowledge of tape trading. As it turned out, after an awesome second show, we headed back to the lot to enjoy the afterglow and chill for a bit before heading to the hotel. Shortly after we arrived back to the car, and having pulled out a couple of lawn chairs and a beverage or three, a brother who appeared to be a little distressed from his out of body experience caught our attention. He decided to approach us as we hung out and told us he had lost track of where his buddies were and asked if he couild hang out with us in case they turned up. We of course said "sure" and he proceeded to tell us that he and his traveling companions were taping the whole tour.By chance, we just so happened to have a stand alone cassette deck with us that he could burn copies to from his rig, and offered him to stay with us, burn tapes from the tour and just drool at the mini goldmine this guy was lugging around with him.We were able to make copies of everything except Nassau and Hartford, including the first and second nights at the Omni.

The next day and the third show, we went to the same lot and the taper we met immediately hooked up with his buddies. He was grateful for the place to stay and we were blessed with pristine 1st gen recordings of almost the entire tour. We exchanged contact info with the taper guy from Pennsylvania and he sent us the rest of the tour promptly. This was the first time in my life I had ever recieved a tape of a concert I had attended right after a show, and it was the whole Spring '90 tour!

Of course, this experience created a monster. About two or three weeks later, we had invested in the first of many portable recorders and proceeded to push the bounderies of who, what and where we recorded live concerts. What a learning experience THAT whole process was...

Of course, there were many other great memories I have from that '90 Omni adventure. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the Grateful Dead on what I consider to be one of the top two or three tours they ever played. I happen to like apples and oranges.

Ultimately, good karma reaps great rewards, and that was our turn to pay it forward and vice/versa. Only at a Grateful Dead concert...

Is there any information on the dates for the tracks in the 2-disc version? So far I've gathered it must be as below but I can't find a LTGTR> Stranger anywhere in the fun. Perhaps there will be some very creative edits on the segues. Anyway, if someone can point out where all these tracks come from, I'd be much obliged. For what it's worth, I'm not interested enough in this era to go for the boxset (and it will be the first Dead release I haven't gone for in years, regardless of the era) so I appreciate that the 2-disc set is going to be available.

Let The Good Times Roll> [??]
Feel Like A Stranger [??]
West L.A. Fadeaway [??]
Easy To Love You [??]
Beat It On Down The Line [??]
Loser [24th]
It’s All Over Now> [??]
Jack-A-Roe [??]
The Last Time [??]
Bird Song [??]
Blow Away [??]
---
Samson And Delilah [??]
Scarlet Begonias> [16th]
Estimated Prophet> [16th]
Playing In The Band> [19th]
Eyes Of The World [19th]
Gimme Some Lovin’> [26th]
Morning Dew [26th]
Not Fade Away [??]
Attics Of My Life [??]

No, many people are getting paid for their work. Here is a short list: John Cutler; David Lemieux; Blair Jackson; Wes Lang; Jeffrey Norman. Then there is all the production costs of the box, jewel trays, doo-dads, and the discs themselves (Lets hope they went first-class on the actual discs this time). All of that has to be taken out of only $180,000. Then there is the attendant vendor for special customer service. So, no, nobody is getting rich. I imagine the royalties going to band members is quite small. They truly are putting the music out there for the fans and that is admirable.

Deadheads just love to complain about everything. It is the one thing you can be sure about when there is a new release. I wouldn't have it any other way. What gets me though is the people who hate the complainers. Imagine two heads on one body -- a complainer and a complimenter, always fighting with each other! LMAO!

I'm digging the listening party jams. The band sounds great and tight. Like a lot of others, I have been listening to a lot of early 70's Dead. This is a nice change and it really is solid Dead.

Ordered the new Jerry Garcia Vol.1 yesterday. I was really surprised to see the link in a post. Nice to see a new JGB release coming our way, hopefully it will continue. I'm happy with all the music that will be shipping my way soon enough.

This is a quality release folks. If you haven't already, use your favorite search engine and learn what a "Smyth-Sewn" book is. I'm glad to see that this set comes with jewel trays. This will reduce the chances of scratching the discs. I also prefer the engraved metal which has the # of 9000 instead of a sticker. The 03/16/90 preview sounds great! Love the mix... I've read some of the recent posts and one thing that should be considered is that the artist Wes Lang also has to be paid for his work. If someone has also mentioned this then I'm just repeating it. I read his bio last night and also the interview concerning this exciting release. I also notice that Rhino is using a different source for customer service. When taking into consideration the quality materials, time and effort that was put into this release, the price tag is very reasonable.. I don't think Rhino, Wes and anyone else is getting rich from this release.

I wonder if the order numbers would give a clue as to how many orders have been placed.
My order number is 88084XX, with the 88084 part being relevant.
My order date was 08-01-12 09:10:23 AM, which was literally right as the information went live. I noticed the Spring 1990 order page appear in the tracker (dead.net/tracker) a minute or two before the home page was updated.

I did not get to attend any of these shows but I think this box set looks great and I am pumped for it. Compared to other offerings from other artists, I think this set is priced fairly. I always say, nobody is forcing you to buy it. If for any reason you do not want it, just pass it by. Don't slam Rhino, the Dead, David L., or anyone else. Just wait for the next release and hopefully you will be happy with that one. For me, this one looks awesome. Rock on & peace out.

A humble request regarding artwork. It would be GREAT if the artwork for each individual show would be posted here on dead.net. Yes, we can scan the covers, but they don't look as good (to me at least). For those that digitize for iTunes, etc., it's nice to have the artwork. Thanks again DL/MP, et. al.

Hey now, I was at those shows too, same thing, 18, didn't end up on the School Bus fortunately, but have been on "the" bus ever since. There's a reason we called it the "Crap" Centre, security and cops were ridiculous. The 1990 shows were particularily bad as I recall.

Don't need/want the extra stuff, though it is an inexpensive way to up the price for the package. We will see how long this takes to sell out, My guess is that it will be a few weeks. People who don't need the artwork or the other extras will wait for the digital genie, as was noted by another poster earlier.

I am psyched for another Jerry release. It is way overdue and actually more welcome news than this box. But I am happy for you 9k boxers. Please enjoy this spectacular onslaught of sound!

It is just too easy to praise or complain now - and one has an audience. The interweb makes it so easy to let the world see your humble (or not so humble) opinion and reply to it with agreement, disagreement or in extreme cases with personal attacks. And then there are the trolls. Before the advent of the web it was not so easy and certainly not public. When "Go to heaven" was released, how many people sat down and put pen to paper and wrote a letter (remember them?) to the record company complaining that the cover art sucked? Nobody knows, nobody will ever know and certainly nobody cares. How many people who post their opinions on here do it to try and get things improved and how many do it just to gain a few seconds of attention? That is a bit easier to assess. Do not misunderstand me here - I am not complaining about the openness of the web or about the people who post on here, I am merely noting the changes that the web has brought about. Just as with social media, the whole philosophy of communication has changed dramatically since the introduction of the web.

Awesome to see some new Jerry Band material finally getting released. Also they are offering a 24bit digital download which is really great!!! I am psyched to have a super high quality recording of both these shows. Promintory Rider from this show and caldrone are a favorite of mine.

Warlocks box? More expensive per disc than this. Beyond Description? More expensive -- and it's a re-release!

Basically same price structure as Winterland boxes, only this one now has a seemingly more lavish production -- so value for money has gone up, not down. Don't give a damn about the doodads? Me either, but the point remains: pricing same as Winterlands.

So, weren't the Warlocks and Winterland boxes overpriced? Not a chance, if you judge by the prices of archival boxes from other artists.

Grate choice, David. Consistently entertaining late period run. The sound system and electronics were top notch and the Dead were having a blast with the technology available to them. A welcome addition to the collection, in my opinion. A healthy band with a smiling Jerry was always a good thing. Is a video release from these shows on the horizon? as no DVD is included in the box as an extra? BTW, the doodads will be fun-good response to those who felt that there weren't enough doodads in the Europe 72 box-I know i kept lookinh for "the hidden steamer trunk drawer on that one"-never did find that drawer though.

Anyone else notice the pauses between songs in the listening party? This raises a big red flag for me. Do the songs on this release have the same pauses in between? That would be a deal breaker for me. I"m not sure about this release anyway, but if there are pauses between each song, each transition and each jam then that devalues this release considerably. WTF?

First of all, there's no need to complain about "whining" or "bitching" about this release. People are just communicating their preferences.
This release looks great and it's from a really good year (although I'm among those who would have prefered more 70s).
The dilemma for me is the price. My first reaction was that it was overpriced but after giving it some thought it's not terribly overpriced. If eliminating the "goodies" would drive the price down I'd be all for that. I don't need a replica backstage pass, it won't do me any good now--I just want the shows. Mainly, though, for my wallet, this box is just too big. A three show box at half the price would be a no-brainer. And why does this tour get a six show box? Yes it was very good but certainly not in the same category as any tour from '73 or '77 and the two Winterland boxes were smaller and much more affordable.
I might still go for this, there is a lot of great music here but I'm on the fence because it's a lot of money to shell out at one time. And quite honestly, I don't reach for 80s/90s Dead all that often when deciding what to listen to.
I hope future boxes fall into the $100 and under price range.
Also, very interesting choice to choose six shows from six different cities. My first thought was to prefer full runs of cities but this might work out pretty well.

its been a long time since i thought about these shows or even that year.cant remember how many times before this show i seen the dead or should i say expericed the parking lot.i was 18 years old and had only started to experiment w/lsd. so i bought 2 sheets of lsd and shortly after met a cute girl and we were in the process of dosing when this long haired wanna be hippie comes up to me and asks to buy some of what he seen us eating.i said no that i dont sell.after hassling me to buy some cause he said he wanted to head in and didnt have time to look for his own.long story short-i gave,not sold,5 hits to him.next thing i know,he puts 20 bucks in my flannel shirt pocket and pulls a badge and says your under arrest.they were calling me the rabbit after what happned next.i jumped and ran through the lot, in and out of cars while people were watching all this and urging me to keep running!LOL.you all might not believe this,but suddenly all the hippies that were undercover cops came out of nowhere and they tackled my ass.they(pigs)were all laughing afterwards saying nice try and calling me a rabbit, that i just up and tried to get gone.this is funny reliving this now.they busted so many people at this show we were put in school buses and taken to jail.i seen at least 2 buses that night filled.another thing that sucked for me that night was i just turned 18 a few months earlier,so when they came on the bus,they said anyone under 18 off the bus,calling your parents,the rest of us went to jail.did 5 days then made bail.had to fake a rehab stint and then 3yrs probation.one more thing,when i was cuffed with my hands behind my back and just waiting with all these hippies around me,which were all cops,(cops dressed like us,heads)but if you had just showed up from another part of the lot and did not just see what happened you would think we were a bunch of heads just hanging out,anyway this dude comes up to us and he is like,whats up everybody whats going on.just bullshitting.but i know he is swinging and (so do the pigs) and before he incriminates himself,i swing my back around to show him that i'm cuffed.we look at each other,i say nothing,he says,right on,man.and walks away.they did try to pursue him but he said nothing incriminating and he just kept walking.i felt great to save a fellow headhead,if only this nite. watching the olympics now,playing shine on you crazy diamond for the balance beam,awesome!! -- the bus came by and i got on,thats when it all began,for the next 22years for me and still going. i love you so much grateful dead,thank you.you all helped me to change my life for the better. 420- i say pigs but i do have respect,don't kid yourself.

This is sweet. Thank you! David Lemieux for choosing the 3/30 show; all my deadhead friends always disagreed with me, but I always thought this show was the killer of that run, (if not the whole tour) even better than the great Branford show. I remember taping it live off WNEW FM in NYC at Manhattan College all those years ago and just being blown away at how HOT and TIGHT Jerry sounded in the slipknot and the dire wolf. We were having a raging kegger in our dorm and I had a tape running off a cheapo boom box playing the radio broadcast, but the tape came out great. Those were glorious times! The 3/28 show which I went to turned out to be my last Brent show, was awesome (and awesomely psychedelicized), AND was STILL probably the weakest of the three at Nassau. That tour was KILLER. Maybe not Europe '72, but still friggin' great!

Also, cool that they're including the Help>Slip>franks and Loser from Albany; I remeber endlessly bitchin when Dozin' didn't have those.

BTW, Messr. Lemieux, you mention the calaypso jam after Women r smarter in the Landover show; another show that has a cool post WrS jam from that era is the previous fall Meadowlands show from 10/14/89, which is a really good to great show that has always been overshadowed by the legendary 10/16 show. Not to mention being overshadowed by the goonish brendan byrne security that run, that night which a guy from my high school died at that show. Those east coast tours were getting crazy by '89-'90, but damn the music was sick!

This looks like an amazing release to follow on the other release from this Tour (which came with a great tee shirt). I was at the two Lisner shows in Washington (GWU's campus theater). Rather interesting to see Jerry without Keith and Donna. THis was pre-Internet, cell phone and immediacy of information so we had no clue what the band would look like other than the Godchaux' were no longer in the Dead (and were replaced with some weird guy who looked like he was somewhere in space with those weird eyes - though he came to be a critical part of the Band, and a damn fine one at that).

Of course, the prior release was Kean College, 2/28/80, and the Bonus disk (with a killer WIPMM) was from 2/29 and had one tune from 3/1.

Got mine in. Really loaoking forward to it. Saw the Atlanta shows, and thought they were terrific. My favorite show of the year though was the return to Kentucky (How bout it Colonel Dave L!). Really, really nice Box, love the new art . . . not as goofy as the E72 box thankfully. One question for Lang though is what is with the Native AMerican iconography with an east coast tour?

One other note - we now have Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench (and Rose de facto) in the Hall of Fame. IT IS TIME FOR DAVEY!

I'm sad to see that this concert is not one of those included in the box set, because I absolutely love the Bird Song with Branford Marsalis included from it on So Many Roads. Can someone please tell me if the whole show is available elsewhere?

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